Fly lines

This has been a rough steelhead season.

Problems started early when a thermal barrier developed in the Columbia. At the start of the run in July, things were fairly normal. The numbers were starting to build and steelhead fever was growing.

Then, through August, the hot weather just went on and on. Temperatures in the Columbia began to creep up into the mid-70s. Warming water slowed the run; by mid-August, the fish movement had ground to a complete stop.

Fishing on the Deschutes was so poor you could have popular runs like Kloan, Wagon Blast, Knock-Knock, Fence Line or Blackberry all to yourself. There were no fish; there were few fishermen.

Even with the bad start, anglers stayed positive. Folks thought, "Just a little cool weather and it will come around. It's a temporary set-back."

Sure enough, we got a spot of cooling temperatures and fish started moving a little. "This is it! This is it!" everyone said. But the hot weather was worse than before. The run had started moving again, but it was just a trickle.

Then, as if the lack of fish wasn't enough, the government took after us. An emergency closure on all steelhead and salmon fishing in the Columbia and it's tributaries was announced. It was enough to give guides like me a heart attack. I have bookings from now until November, all planning to go steelhead fishing on the Deschutes.

Thank goodness the infighting turned out to be some sort of interagency brinkmanship - one branch of government wanting another to do something. They all decided to take it to the mat to see who would blink first.

I can tell you who blinked. I did. The stupidity of it all scared the dickens out of me. I take this whole incident as further proof that the agencies in charge don't have the will or the desire to really take care of the fish. The bottom line is, we get this kind of interagency politics passed off as management while the fish runs are continuing to decline.

After the politics, with the runs starting to move again, it looked like we could get on with our fishing. That's when we suffered the final blow. The White Water River went out.

The White Water is a snow-melt stream that comes off the White Water Glacier on the south side of Mt. Hood. Being a glacial stream, it always runs a little cloudy. During hot weather or sudden rain storms the White Water is prone to "blow out." It will send a surge of milky, white water into the Deschutes. When that happens it can put fishing off for a day or two.

This year, with prolonged hot weather the White Water Glacier is melting more than it has in the last 30 years. It is pouring milky water into the lower Deschutes. The condition is so severe that there are said to be pockets of standing water trapped in the crevasses. The Forest Service has issued travel warnings on Mt. Hood in the area of the glacier. Large mudflow-like surges have occured. They say this condition could persist for several weeks. It is going to take a great deal of cooling on Mt. Hood to stop the silt.

In steelheading terms, the White Water being out means the lower river, below Sherar's Falls is out. Even if there are fish down there, the water is so cloudy it's impossible to present a fly properly.

Some fish do appear to be coming up; small numbers are getting above the counting station at Sherar's Falls. A few of these fish are being caught in the clearer water in and around Maupin. But the fishing is not great. The numbers are still small. We've got a couple more weeks to go.

Still, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, when the run gets here there will be good numbers. We fishermen just have to hold on and wait for our luck to change. Maybe October will be better.